“When I was 21, I wanted to write like Kafka. But, unfortunately for me, I wrote like a script editor for ‘The Simpsons’ who’d briefly joined a religious cult and then discovered Foucault. Such is life.“

Zadie Smith, Novelist

Pros and Cons of Working as an Editor

You think about becoming a content editor but are not sure whether this job is in line with your strengths and preferences or not?

Great! This article is exactly for you since I will show you all the pros and cons of being an editor in the following chapters.

Editor Job Profile

Advantages of Being an Editor

1. Editors can work indoors
2. You can make decent money as an editor
3. Content editors can work remotely
4. You can start a side hustle
5. Decent job prospects
6. Increasing demand for content editors in the future
7. Working as an editor is not that stressful
8. Editors don’t have to work many extra hours
9. You don’t have to work in the evening or at nighttime
10. Content editors enjoy a good work-life balance
11. You can avoid physical work as a content editor
12. You can help out your family and friends
13. You can start your own content business

Editors can work indoors

One advantage of being an editor is that you can work indoors and don’t have to work outside during times of bad weather as garbage collectors or foresters often have to do.

Sure, it can be great to work outdoors on nice sunny days.

However, it can also be quite unpleasant when it rains, snows or during periods of extreme heat.

Many people still have to work under those extreme conditions while you as an editor will have the luxury to work out of a cozy office where you can enjoy air conditioning or heating and even have a nice coffee or tea at work while many other people wish to change places with you in this regard.

You can make decent money as an editor

You should also not underestimate the amount of money you can make from your editing job.

Sure, you will not get rich and doctors, lawyers or bankers will often earn much more than you.

However, many editors are still able to make a decent living from what they are doing and if you are really good at editing and are also willing to work hard, chances are that you will be even able to afford some luxury.

Hence, if you are really passionate about this industry, you should not be discouraged from becoming an editor when it comes to financial prospects.

You will still be able to have a decent lifestyle if you become really good at what you are doing and have the drive to always improve your skills.

Content editors can work remotely

Another upside to working as a content editor is that you can also work from home or from anywhere you want as long as you have an internet connection.

Sure, you may have to come to the office once a while to meet up with your colleagues or with clients in person.

However, most of the time, you can work purely remotely since you can use our modern technologies to make video calls and share your screen with call participants so that they can enjoy your presentation as if you were present in person.

In turn, you will be better able to manage your private and your professional life at the same time and can also use your time much more efficiently.

For instance, you can just do the laundry between two calls and this means that you will have to do less private work once your workday is over.

Consequently, you will have more leisure to spend on the things you like and you will also be more flexible regarding how you want to structure your workday if you work from home.

Plus, you will also not get stuck in traffic jams and can use this additional time for commuting for other things you like more.

You can also sleep longer if you work from home and this can give you more energy for your life in general.

You can start a side hustle

Becoming an editor can also make quite a lot of sense in case you want to start a side hustle in the digital world.

Not only will you be able to offer content editing services to clients that you can do after finishing your day job or on weekends, but you can also start your own blog or YouTube channel.

In fact, many people have started out as editors but have soon realized that they can make more money from those digital channels.

Consequently, a career as an editor can also make quite a lot of sense in case you want to have a regular day job but still want to have the opportunity to make significant money on the side.

Decent job prospects

Content editors are in high demand right now. Sure, this is not true for everyone and if you are really bad at what you are doing, you will just not get enough jobs to make a living out of it.

However, if you stay up-to-date with latest developments and are also willing to improve your skills every day, chances are that you will become a real expert in the content editing business and that many clients will contact you and ask you for advice.

Due to the digitalization of our world, an increasing number of content editors are needed since almost every big company now realizes that publishing content on a regular basis will be the future of marketing.

Thus, if you are willing to become a real expert in this field, chances are that you will find many companies you could work for and may almost have the freedom of choice for whom you want to work.

Increasing demand for content editors in the future

There is a clear trend in the content marketing world.

An increasing percentage of the total ad budget of companies is spent in the digital world and this trend will likely continue in the future.

Consequently, this is also great news for editors since an increasing number of editors will be needed to optimize ad content in the future.

In turn, chances are that you will also have decent future job prospects and will not have to fear losing your job that much.

Working as an editor is not that stressful

Another benefit of becoming a content editor is that your workday will also not be that stressful.

Sure, you may have times when you have to finish big projects and have to do multiple tasks at the same time.

Yet, your job as a content editor will be relatively relaxed most of the year and while many other people have to deal with enormous time pressure at work, you will be really able to enjoy your workday.

Consequently, while many other people will burn out at work, you will have a rather relaxed life in this regard and your risk of suffering from mental health issues may also be much lower.

Editors don’t have to work many extra hours

You will also not have to work many extra hours as an editor.

Quite often, editors have standard workweeks and don’t work more than 40 hours. Some editors also work significantly less.

You will also have a great level of freedom regarding when you want to work as long as you meet the goals of the company you work for.

For instance, if you are a really efficient worker, you may be able to do the work that is meant for a whole workday in just a few hours.

In such a case, you will often be able to close your laptop quite early in the afternoon and can enjoy the rest of your day with your family.

You don’t have to work in the evening or at nighttime

As a content editor, you will also not have to work at nighttime.

Sure, you could do some work in the evening if you want to enjoy nice afternoons with your family and rather want to work late in the day.

However, you don’t have to do so. You could also just get up early in the morning and finish your work in the first few hours of your day.

This means that you will have more than enough time to meet up with your favorite people after work and while many other people like waitresses or nurses often have to work during the evening, you will be able to enjoy a nice drink in good company.

Content editors enjoy a good work-life balance

In general, many editors report that they have a pretty decent work-life balance.

In fact, many of them even claim that they would be willing to work more and most editors are quite satisfied with the mix between work and money they get from their jobs.

Sure, you will not get rich as an editor.

However, becoming an editor can still make quite a lot of sense for you in case you want to have a good mix between money and leisure and don’t want to work long hours or have extreme pressure as in many other jobs that pay more.

You can avoid physical work as a content editor

Another advantage of becoming an editor is that you can also avoid hard physical work.

While working as an editor can be mentally demanding, you will not have to work in a physical manner.

Hence, while many other people have to lift heavy things all day long and ruin their spine, you will be able to sit in a relatively comfortable office chair and can also avoid many long-term health issues people who work in a physical manner often experience.

You can help out your family and friends

Not only will your editing skills be valuable in the content world, but you will also be able to help out your family and friends.

For instance, you can check job applications or other important documents for your favorite people and make sure that everything is alright.

In fact, there are many occasions good editors can make a real difference for the chances of success and you will therefore be an important person in your circle of friends and many of your friends will greatly appreciate what you do for them.

You can start your own content business

As an editor, you will also be able to start your own business. In fact, you will not have to work as an employed editor forever.

Instead, you can just work as an employee in the content editing industry for a few years, save some money, get some experience and then start your own editing company.

The editing world is great for starting your own business since it will not require you to invest large amounts of money.

Instead, you can start a content business at almost zero costs since you will not need any physical assets apart from a computer and a phone.

As you can see, there are definitely many advantages to working as a content editor.

However, it is still not all upside and we should therefore also talk about all the issues that may come along with it in the following chapter.

Disadvantages of Working as an Editor

1. Content editors will not get rich
2. You may have to deal with large income swings
3. Many jobs are outsourced to low-wage countries
4. Machines may replace humans when it comes to editing
5. Relatively low social status of editors
6. You will not learn many hard skills
7. Difficult to switch fields for editors
8. You will have to sit in front of a computer for most of your workday
9. Lack of social interaction can be frustrating
10. You may get bored with editing in the long run
11. Limited promotion opportunities for editors
12. You often need a college degree for becoming an editor
13. You may have to take on student loan debt

Content editors will not get rich

While you can make decent money as an editor, you will still not get rich and you will also not be able to afford many nice things you may want to have in your life.

Especially if you live in expensive regions, you may have to spend a significant fraction of your income on rent and other basic expenses and there may be hardly any money left to enjoy a nice car or even to buy a home.

Consequently, if you want to have all those nice things, you may rather want to become a lawyer or work in the medical or financial industry instead of becoming an editor.

You may have to deal with large income swings

If you work as a self-employed editor, you will also have to deal with significant swings in income.

While you may have pretty good months where you make decent money from what you are doing, you may also have months where you get hardly any jobs at all.

Thus, make sure to save some money during good times so that you have enough savings that help you get through those dry spells.

Otherwise, you may get into serious financial difficulties in the long run while welders and many other people have a pretty stable income.

Many jobs are outsourced to low-wage countries

Many companies also start to outsource editing jobs to third-world countries since the money they have to pay for editing services in those parts of the world are just much lower.

In turn, this means that there will be fewer jobs for editors in the United States or in other high-wage countries in the future and if this outsourcing process continues, chances are that many jobs in high-wage countries will be lost and job prospects for editors may be rather questionable in case this happens.

Machines may replace humans when it comes to editing

Another issue with becoming an editor is that artificial intelligence may get to a stage where machines can do editing jobs much better than humans could ever do them and if this happens, many editors will lose their jobs.

Of course, we still have to get to this point and it may take us a few years or even decades to do so.

However, at one point in time, it is quite likely that most editing jobs will be replaced by machines and that editors have to find new ways to make a living.

Relatively low social status of editors

As an editor, you will also have a rather low social status. You will just not get the same admiration as doctors or other people who can save lives.

You will also not get as much attention as an editor and you should make sure that you are fine with not being recognized by others that much and that your self-worth doesn’t depend on the validation of others before you decide to work in this field.

You will not learn many hard skills

Another downside to working as an editor is that you will simply not learn many hard skills that are valuable in the job market during your career.

Sure, you will become really good at tweaking content. Yet, what other skills will you develop over time? This can become a real problem, especially if you don’t want to work in this field forever.

Difficult to switch fields for editors

In fact, it can also be pretty difficult for editors to find jobs outside the editing industry.

Due to the lack of hard skills that are often needed for working in different industries, you may just get stuck in the editing industry forever and you should therefore make sure that editing is what you really want to do for quite a long time to avoid any issues in this regard in the future.

You will have to sit in front of a computer for most of your workday

Another disadvantage of becoming an editor is that you will also have to work in a classical office job.

This means that you will have to stare at a computer screen all day long and while some people like this type of work, many others just don’t like it at all and rather want to work with their hands instead.

Therefore, make sure that office work is really what you want to do in the future before you decide for becoming an editor so that you don’t get disappointed with what you are doing in the long run.

Lack of social interaction can be frustrating

You will also not have that much social interaction as an editor. In fact, you will often just get your jobs and work on them for quite a long time without any contact with your colleagues.

Sometimes, you will also work on jobs alone and will have nobody who could help you out in case you face challenges.

While working alone can be great since you can really focus on what you are doing, too much of this work may also lead to a serious lack of social interaction and you may even become socially isolated in the long run.

You may get bored with editing in the long run

While editing can be a cool job for quite a while, it may still become pretty boring in the long run.

After a while, you will just not learn many new things anymore but will rather do your work in a pretty standardized manner.

Consequently, you will also not be able to be as creative as you might want to be and you may just lose your motivation for what you are doing sooner or later.

Limited promotion opportunities for editors

Depending on the company you work for, you may also not have many promotion opportunities as an editor.

In fact, many editors do the same work for many years or even decades and this also means that your salary will not increase as much as you want it to increase if you do the same job and don’t provide any additional value to the company you work for.

You often need a college degree for becoming an editor

Most companies also require a college degree before they are willing to employ you as an editor.

Not only does this mean that you will have to make a huge time commitment, but you will also have to spend lots of money on tuition and other expenses related to college.

Hence, before you decide for an editing career, make sure that you are willing to make this commitment and that it will be well worth it in the long run.

You may have to take on student loan debt

If you don’t have rich parents, you will often also have to take on student loans to finance your degree.

However, you will also have to pay back this student debt sooner or later and this means that you will have an extra financial burden compared to someone who didn’t go to college but rather worked right after finishing school.

Top 10 Being an Editor Pros & Cons – Summary List

Should You Become An Editor?

Now that you know all the advantages and disadvantages of being an editor, you have to decide for yourself whether an editing career is the right way to go for you or if you rather want to inform yourself about other job options instead.

If you are still interested in an editor career, you should also have a detailed look at the salary, job prospects, educational requirements, working hours, work-life balance and job satisfaction of editors.

Also make sure to check out the following articles to get more information on different job options:

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a tattoo artist

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a programmer

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a risk manager

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Author_editing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_editing

Own research

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people about the different career paths that are possible in our current state of the world. In my opinion, people often make the mistake to choose their profession solely based on how much money they can earn from it instead of doing what makes them really happy.

This is quite sad and I just want to give people a more objective picture of how a fulfilling career could look like. I did the same when I started working in consulting after finishing my Master’s degree in Economics. However, I’ve quit pretty soon after that since I haven’t found true meaning in my job.

Now I can do what I really love to do and I want to enable as many other people as well to go this exciting path towards happiness instead of money.

I conducted various interviews with employees to give you a good impression of what working in different fields will look like and that you can make the best possible decision regarding your future career choice.

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